Mayoral Candidate Complains About Tactics

March 8, 1986|By Alan Cherry and Tom Lassiter, Staff Writers

LAUDERHILL — Mayoral candidate and City Council President Buddy Clark said he spent several hours Friday with Assistant State Attorney Ed Pyers detailing his complaints about campaign tactics during the final days leading up to Tuesday`s election.

An anonymous flier circulated this week among some residents prompted Clark`s visit to Pyers, according to Clark`s attorney, Rick Rednor.

Clark said he blames his political opponent, Mayor David Kaminsky, and Kaminsky`s supporters for a typewritten flier that offered a sketchy outline of Clark`s alleged arrest record and financial dealings.

``There`s not a negative thing in any of my campaign literature about (Kaminsky),`` Clark said. The only public criticism Clark said he has leveled at Kaminsky during candidate nights has been charges of Kaminsky`s unresponsiveness to the council`s members.

Kaminsky, hearing of Clark`s meeting with Pyers, denied any involvement with the production or distribution of the flier.

``If Clark is filing a complaint, he`s filing it against the wrong person. I had no involvement in distributing that,`` Kaminsky said.

The single-sheet flier, which carried a copy of Clark`s campaign logo, was mailed to some homeowners and distributed in bulk to several Lauderhill condominiums Wednesday.

The eight incidents listed on the flier included brief statements that Clark, 39, was arrested in June 1968 on charges of destruction of personal property, was sued in 1984 for non-payment of a $40,000 mortgage, and is wrapped up in an on-going federal grand jury investigation.

Clark`s attorney during the grand jury investigation, Andrew Siegel, said that to the best of his knowledge the case has been dismissed. Federal officials would not comment on whether the case is still active. Part of the investigation involved a bingo operation in the Lauderhill Mall while Clark served as the mall`s manager.

As for the $40,000 mortgage, Clark said the property in question belongs to his former wife and any financial problems with the land occurred after he was divorced.

In the 1968 arrest, Clark said he was touring with a musical band in a town near St. Petersburg when a fuse blew at a nightclub and he inadvertently cut the power to a freezer full of ice cream.

Clark and former Mayor Eugene Cipolloni are challenging Kaminsky in Tuesday`s election.

A Florida law, adopted last year, makes malicious charges or false statements by candidates a third-degree felony. The law also allows candidates to file charges of malice with the Florida Elections Commission. The commission could assess a maximum fine of $5,000 for a guilty verdict.

Clark said Thursday he was considering filing a complaint with the Division of Elections in Tallahassee.